The present invention relates to multimedia editing apparatuses, and more particularly to a multimedia editing apparatus that is adapted for relatively highly regular information content and that creates content efficiently by registering regularity of such content as a template.
Conventional techniques related to the present invention are a multimedia editing technique and a document processing technique. Multimedia content stored in CD-ROMs and Video-CDs have heretofore been created by following the procedure for designing a layout structure and a physical operation per title, preparing and selecting material information to be used, then loading the layout structure and the physical operation while arranging the material information in a display space using a so-called authoring tool, such as "DIRECTOR" developed by MACROMEDIA Inc. of the United States. This procedure has been successful because it is originality that is important for individual multimedia content; i.e., the multimedia content are not common, and because such multimedia content will not be made twice.
Therefore, there are only a small number of examples of templates handling regularity in the preparation of multimedia content. For example, "SCENARIO EDITING APPARATUS" disclosed in Unexamined Japanese Patent Publication 6-243023 introduces an idea of template into the preparation of scenarios for multimedia applications. The template being discussed in this publication is not a model of the entire part of multimedia content, but is a template merely registering therein individual physical effects.
On the other hand, in the field of document processing, there has been a strong demand for the editing of structured documents that have common regularity. The "STRUCTURED DOCUMENT EDITING METHOD" disclosed in Unexamined Japanese Patent Publication 5-101053 proposes a method in which by specifying a specific portion of a "model structure" of a document, a new model structure is generated from the document prepared based on such model structure. Further, the "DOCUMENT PROCESSING APPARATUS" disclosed in Unexamined Japanese Patent Publication 5-108631 proposes an apparatus that directly edits on a display a logic structure of a document called a "common structure". Still further, the "DOCUMENT PROCESSING APPARATUS" disclosed in Unexamined Japanese Patent Publication 5-334291 proposes an apparatus that prepares a specific table of contents based on a "model" of a table of contents.
These document processing apparatuses share a common idea that not only the layout of a document is edited by a WYSIWYG type editing function but also a function for preparing individual documents from a logic structure of a document registered as a template is employed. Since a document is static unlike the multimedia content, regularity of a document is handled only by sharing the logic structure.
Conventional multimedia editing apparatuses do not have a means for handling regularity of the entire part of multimedia content to be edited. Therefore, the conventional multimedia editing apparatuses are not adapted to be used for repetitively preparing relatively highly regularity content such as an electronic catalog and an electronic teaching material. On the other hand, some conventional document processing apparatuses have a document preparing function based on a template as a means for handing document regularity. Since the multimedia content involve even physical operations unlike the document that is static, not dynamic, these document processing apparatuses cannot be applied directly to the editing of multimedia content. In addition, in the case of multimedia content, there is a strong demand for improving the attractiveness of content by giving various layouts and operations to a single logical structure. Therefore, an editing apparatus that can satisfy both regularity and diversification must be developed.